Welcome to May 2026’s edition of Movers & Shakers.

This month closed out our event season until the Autumn, and welcomed some stellar weather as well as a bountiful round of appointments, partnerships, and awards.

May saw a range of partnerships, from health tech and retail to cybersecurity and international startups.

The month also rang in a range of appointments as Scottish tech welcomed new heads of offices and security leaders.

With the sun finally shining, Scottish tech is set for a luminous summer!

All that and more coming up.

Partnerships

Glasgow-based Phlo to Power Holland & Barrett Weight Management Service

Holland & Barrett has announced a new partnership with Glasgow-based digital health service provider Phlo to provide customers with access to clinically-led weight management services across its stores and online.

The UK health and wellness retailer said the partnership is designed to support a more sustainable and holistic approach to weight management, combining Holland & Barrett’s existing nutrition and wellness range with additional clinical support provided by Phlo.

Under the partnership, Phlo’s clinical weight management services will be featured across Holland & Barrett stores and online, signposting customers to additional support alongside the retailer’s existing product range. Holland & Barrett said it will also continue to invest in its own-brand weight management ranges, with new launches planned throughout 2026 and beyond.

Read more here.

HMRC Partners With AI Unicorn Quantexa For Data Modernisation

Quantexa has been awarded a £175 million, 10-year partnership by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to modernise its data foundation and enable sovereign, governed AI at national scale in one of the public sector’s largest Decision Intelligence deployments.

The initiative will seek to drive efficiency across key workflows, protect public funds, and enhance the customer experience for the UK taxpayer. HMRC has also seen an uptick in dissatisfaction from the public; 2024-2025 saw the tax collector gain 93,000 complaints according to a Freedom of Information request.

This programme will support the modernisation of HMRC’s core data infrastructure, giving the UK’s tax authority a clearer, connected view of its data to improve performance, help identify tax at risk, and strengthen control.

Read more here.

CodeBase Partners With Cork-based Republic of Work

CodeBase has partnered with Cork-based Republic of Work to drive cross-border startup growth.

The ‘Celtic Link’ pilot programme launched this week aims to help tech companies from Scotland and Ireland scale beyond their own home markets, opening the door to new investors, workspaces, networks, and mentors, while creating a fast, accessible pipeline for talent, collaboration, and innovation between the two regions.

Located in the centre of Cork, Republic of Work is a leading international innovation hub.

As a gateway for international companies entering the EU, it provides comprehensive infrastructure and access to national and international programmes.

Read more here.

UK and Australia Partner on AI Security

The UK and Australia will deepen cooperation on AI security and safety when Ministers meet in Canberra as both nations move to stay ahead of emerging threats from powerful AI systems.

Under a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the UK AI Security Institute and Australian Safety Institute will work together to track the latest developments in frontier AI – including how these systems could be used in cyber-attacks, as well as how they can strengthen defences.

The partnership will see both countries share insights on AI capabilities, carry out research into emerging risks, and work together to develop international best practice for testing and evaluating AI systems – principles to help guide those working to ensure AI behaves as intended.

Read more here.

Acumen Cyber Partners with AttackIQ to Strengthen Threat Exposure Management

Glasgow-based cybersecurity firm Acumen Cyber have announced a strategic partnership with AttackIQ, a leader in adversary-informed Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM). Together, the companies will help organisations identify, validate, and break the attack paths that create real adversary opportunity across modern enterprise environments.

As AI accelerates the speed of exploitation and adversaries increasingly weaponise exposures faster than organisations can remediate them, traditional approaches built around vulnerability counts, severity scores, and point-in-time assessments are no longer sufficient. Modern cyber defence requires organisations to continuously understand which exposures actually matter, how adversaries could leverage them to reach critical assets, and whether existing security controls have been proven capable of stopping those attacks.

The partnership brings together Acumen Cyber’s engineering-led security operations capabilities with AttackIQ’s adversary-informed CTEM platform to help organisations operationalise continuous validation and threat-informed defence. Together, the companies will enable customers to continuously test defensive effectiveness, prioritise the attack paths that matter most, and measure whether adversary opportunity is being systematically reduced over time.

Read more here.

Appointments

Commsworld Appoints First Chief Revenue Officer

Commsworld, one of the UK’s largest independent network providers, has moved to strengthen its senior leadership team with the appointment of Melony Buchanan to the new role of Chief Revenue Officer.

Melony will lead the Edinburgh-headquartered company’s revenue strategy, with a clear focus on geographical, proposition and partnership expansion as part of a UK-wide growth roadmap. This roadmap will be centred around the continued evolution of the company’s portfolio to meet the changing needs of its customers in both the public and private sectors.

By aligning solutions more closely with sector-specific challenges, Mel intends to drive greater value for customers, citizens and consumers, whilst reinforcing Commsworld as a market-leading, trusted connectivity partner.

Read more here.

Cyacomb announces three new hires to support continued global expansion

Cyacomb, the UK’s leading expert in digital triage, today announced it has appointed three new team members as it continues to grow globally. The new appointments will support Cyacomb’s efforts to deliver its technology to more organisations and law enforcement agencies to improve the safety of the digital world.

The appointments reflect the continued momentum across the business and the growing demand for technology that helps organisations identify offenders, protect victims and reduce exposure to harmful material.

Cyacomb helps law enforcement and organisations rapidly identify illegal and harmful content on digital devices. The platform is used by organisations and law enforcement globally to detect and protect against Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). Cyacomb’s technology allows organisations to rapidly scan devices for CSAM, ensuring illegal material is identified and offenders have no place to hide.

Cyacomb is currently going through a period of global growth, with it recently announcing a new partnership with the Internet Watch Foundation to offer its services to the private sector.

The appointments come in the wake of Chris Johnson being appointed as the company’s CEO in August 2025, and they also coincide with Alan McConnell, Cyacomb’s Head of Customer Success, being promoted to Chief Operations Officer.

Morgan Stanley appoints Angela McCann as Head of Glasgow office

Morgan Stanley confirmed the appointment of Angela McCann as Head of Glasgow.

In her new role, Angela will be responsible for overseeing Morgan Stanley’s Glasgow office, which supports a wide range of business functions and plays a key role in Morgan Stanley’s global operations. Having joined Morgan Stanley in 2006, she brings over two decades of experience across a broad range of Finance leadership positions.

In addition, Angela will continue to serve as Head of Glasgow Finance, a role she has held since 2022. She is also a senior champion of Morgan Stanley’s socio-economic inclusion strategy and serves on the Firm’s EMEA Inclusive & Sustainable Ventures Committee.

AND Digital  Appoints of Tim Bass as Head of Snowflake

AND Digital has appointed Tim Bass as Head of Snowflake, working across the UK, Europe and the US. This strengthens AND’s data, cloud and AI capabilities as clients accelerate their move from experimentation to measurable impact.

The appointment comes as AND Digital continues to expand with reported growth reaching more than 400% year-on-year.

Bass brings more than 15 years’ experience across data science, GenAI, analytics and digital transformation, with a strong track record of helping enterprise teams turn complex technology into practical, scalable outcomes.

In his new role, Bass will support AND Digital’s mission to Guide, Build and Equip clients for digital independence, combining hands-on technical depth with strategic consulting leadership to help organisations unlock value through modern data platforms and AI-powered delivery.

Systal Appoints Deryck Mitchelson as Strategic CISO

Systal Technology Solutions today announced the appointment of Deryck Mitchelson as Strategic Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), strengthening the company’s leadership team and reinforcing its commitment to helping organisations address increasingly complex cybersecurity and operational resilience challenges.

Deryck brings more than 30 years of experience in cybersecurity, digital transformation, enterprise technology strategy and resilience across highly regulated and critical infrastructure sectors.

Prior to joining Systal, Deryck held senior executive roles at Check Point Software Technologies, where he led the Global CISO Programme and Executive Business Centre. In these roles, he evolved both functions into strategic customer engagement platforms, helping organisations align cybersecurity strategy with business growth, operational resilience and executive decision-making.

Expansions

NZTC to Launch Energy Technology Testing Hub in Aberdeen

Aberdeen is set to gain a major new energy technology testing hub, with the Net Zero Technology Centre preparing to reopen the former Weatherford Evaluation Centre at Aberdeen Energy Park in Bridge of Don.

The site, which closed in 2020, will be brought back into use under a long-term lease agreed between NZTC and AM Sci Tech, a Manchester-based subsidiary of Hurstwood Holdings and owner of Aberdeen Energy & Innovation Parks.

The move represents a major milestone for Scotland’s energy transition sector and will see the former Weatherford site repurposed as a testing facility for technologies used across offshore deployment, decommissioning, well operations, asset integrity, and emerging low-carbon energy applications.

Read more here.

Awards

Outer Hebrides Firm Closed Door Security Wins National Cyber Excellence Award

Closed Door Security, the only cyber security company based in the Outer Hebrides, has been crowned winner of the Cyber Excellence Award at the ScotlandIS Digital Tech Awards 2026.

The award recognises organisations that have developed ground-breaking solutions that significantly enhances the ability to defend, disrupt, or support organisations in preventing, responding to or recovering from cyber attacks.

Closed Door Security was specifically recognised for the speed and simplicity it delivers its services to its customers, and for the company’s growth from a one-person operation to a global service provider.

For a company headquartered in one of the UK’s most remote regions, the win marks a
significant milestone, not only for the Closed Door Security, but for the growing role of the Highlands and Islands in Scotland’s tech and cyber security landscape.

“This recognition is hugely important for us,” said William Wright, CEO of Closed Door Security. “We’ve always believed that geography should never be a barrier to delivering world-class cyber security services. To be recognised at a national level reinforces that talent and innovation exist right here in the Outer Hebrides.”